U.S. Rep. Diane Black, who is running for governor, issued a press release Thursday calling on current Gov. Bill Haslam to sign an “anti-Sanctuary Cities” bill that requires state and local law enforcement officers to assist federal immigration officials in detaining undocumented immigrants.

The Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition, on the other hand, held a rally at the state Capitol Thursday evening to call for a veto of the group calls a “mass deportation bill.” TIRRC says “hundreds” attended, reports The Tennessean. And the Southern Poverty Law Center sent Haslam a letter saying the bill is unconstitutional.

“The voters of Tennessee want our leaders in Nashville to get tough on illegal immigration,” said Diane Black. “Sanctuary cities have no place in our state, and Governor Haslam should sign the anti-sanctuary cities legislation passed by the General Assembly – the duly elected representatives of the people of Tennessee. It is a common-sense bill that supports law enforcement and prohibits local governments from rewarding illegal immigration. It needs to become a common-sense law.”

While Tennessee already has a law making sanctuary cities illegal, that law defines sanctuary cities as cities with written sanctuary policies. SB 2332/HB 2315 would expand that law to apply to cities who don’t necessarily make a written policy, but don’t cooperate with the federal government’s immigration enforcement.

Excerpt from The Tennessean article:

In the organization’s April 26 letter, TIRRC’s co-executive director Stephanie Teatro noted the legislation in question overlooks the fact that Tennessee does not have any sanctuary cities and that local law enforcement officials comply with federal immigration law.

… TIRRC says the legislation, which was passed on the final day of the 2018 session, would require all law enforcement officials to inquire about immigration status during routine encounters with residents.

The bill also prohibits local officials from asking for probable cause or a judicial warrant before detaining an individual at the request of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, TIRRC says.

“These new mandates would severely restrict the ability of local police to make common-sense, public safety decisions and would force local governments to bear the risk and expense of federal immigration enforcement,” Teatro said.

Beyond the language of the bill, Teatro said the “true intent” of the bill was clear when it was under consideration in the legislature. On April 11, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erin, used an ethnic slur (‘wetback’) while referring to Mexican migrants. Teatro also noted among the proponents to speak in favor of the bill was the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organization deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

… On Wednesday, the Southern Poverty Law Center sent its own letter to Haslam, calling the bill unconstitutional.

The organization pointed to the requirement that local law enforcement comply with requests from federal officials while saying “such detentions would violate both the federal and Tennessee constitutions, which prohibit unreasonable seizures.”

I don’t claim to be one of you fake Christians, but no law will ever stop me from trying to help those poor humans who are fleeing a life of oppression. Your lack of humanity is appalling and is eerily close to what the Nazis did to those hiding the Jews in WWII. Who’s next? LBGTs? Gypsies? Poles? Oh, how about Canadians while you’re at it? Jehovah’s Witnesses? The mentally and physically disabled? African-Americans anyone? Oh hey, how about Jews? Or people with funny sounding names? Names that sound suspicious — you know, names that don’t sound American enough? Like Parsley. Way too British sounding, don’t you think? And you? What about you? Who’s to say you won’t be next, even if your name is Black? That’s a pretty scary sounding name alright — conjuring up visions of Nurse Ratched.

It’s so good to catch a glimpse of the woman behind the Responses to Tom Humphrey’s updates, if only for a moment. That was great rant Leslie, and I really hope it makes you feel better.

To my fellow conservatives, in her rant Leslie shows you the mindset of all too many on the left. Perhaps we should print it out and put it under a magnet on our refrigerator to remind us of what’s at stake in order energize us to double our political activism in the face of the struggles that lie ahead.

Governor Haslam, if the “southern ‘poverty’ law center ” is against the law, you know it must be the correct law to enact. One does not get much more anti-American and seditious than that bunch of soros-ists.

Leslie, how about you spend your personal money on foreign immigrant Christian Charity? No more vacations for you, no more eating out, no more cars (get a bike its cheaper), no more personal hygiene products, no more cable, no more candy, no more retirement savings. None of that for you as you help those who have none of those things in the name of your Christian Charity. I want my Christian Charity to go to kids in the Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Detroit, & New York projects. How about helping them first and let them move out (immigrate) of those war zones claiming sanctuary in Tennessee. Many of those kids fathers and grandfathers fought and died in wars defending this countries freedoms. We owe their descendants first! In the meantime you can spend ALL of your disposable income helping out foreign nationals. Leslie, there is not enough money in the universe to bail out all the failed nations of the world and their populations. America first and then the world is doable right now.

Not much fun is it, waiting and wondering if a centrist Republican Governor will muster the courage to go against the wishes of The Great and The Good by doing the right thing. While waiting and wondering conservatives please be reminded of the necessity of following the ANYBODY BUT BOYD strategy so don’t have another eight years of this nonsense.

This is why we need Diane Black as governor. You may have noticed, or not, that The Tennessean, as usual, did not do any actual journalism on this issue. As for those “alien” and ” stranger” quotes attributed to the Old Testament to support invasion of this country from foreign lands, I’ve read some Jewish interpretations of those passages, based on the earlier languages from which all that sprung, and their interpretations/quotes are quite different.

I’m not religious, so I don’t care about Bible quoting. I follow logic, common sense, and actions for the good of the many now and in the future.

As for calling FAIR a hate group, FAIR’s Dan Stein is Jewish by birth, and the org’s lawyers are Jewish, and they have members of various minorities, so the SPLC’s attempt to lump them and law enforcement in with hate groups who hate Jews and other minorities is laughable. If you call for immigration-law enforcement and reduction in immigration NUMBERS, you will be labeled a hater by the lucrative Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been exposed as a bunch of con artists, even by one of its founders. This is not a credible organization.

Because most of our illegal immigration is coming from Latin America, and most of that from Mexico, Latinos/Hispanics are going to be singled out for these actions. Sorry, but those are the facts. But we are getting illegal immigration from many countries, and our legal numbers from all countries must be cut if we hope to sustain ourselves as a nation at all and have a natural environment we can live in.

Thanks to the Republican super majority in Nashville, this state is becoming a much worse place to live.
It will only get more regressed and repressive if Black is elected. No health insurance for the working poor, no advancement of medical marijuana, provincial rural representatives dictating to our urban cities what local laws they can and cannot pass, dancing to the tune of the NRA and whatever they want passed (More guns do not make us safer, people.), I’m with you Leslie.
Let’s make America smart again.

The fact that this law is a violation of the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution is secondary to the question of whether or not we’re really stupid enough to give up our rights as citizens for a problem that may or may not exist. If you know, and can present enough evidence for a warrant, that someone is committing a crime, just present the evidence and get the warrant. The law makes no sense.